Thread by @RichmdSewerRat

Let's talk about COVID - a necessary🧵@AlboMP @Mark_Butler_MP
cc: @DanielAndrewsMP @MartinFoleyMP @VictorianCHO (happy holiday Professor) @CrabbBrendan @MarcTennant @drkerrynphelps @Globalbiosec @PMGPSC @ProfPCDoherty @YouAreLobbyLud

👉Please RT if you agree
1/

Dear @AlboMP it is without doubt that you and your frontbench achieved in 3 weeks what feels like more than the coalition achieved in the last 9 years ...
BUT
#CovidIsNotOver
Your handling - or better non-handling - or even anti-handling (no more mask mandate in airports) ...
2/

... is beyond ignorance of this current and future problem for our health and economy.

As economy seems to be more important than health, lets talk about the economy:

Death: What is a lost life worth? Economists say each human life is worth about $10 million dollars. ...
3/

Australian lives lost to COVID
Total pandemic: 9332 - 139,980,000,000 $AUD
2022: 7079 - 106,185,000,000 $AUD
Since you are PM: 1255 - 18,825,000,000 $AUD

...
4/

Cost of hospitalisation and ICU

Average cost per hospitalisation day (including ICU)
247,385 $AUD (Based on 11 bn $AUD Commonwealth, states and territories March 20 - June 21 and a total of 44,465 hospitalisation days [ICU included])

...
5/

Cost of hospitalisation and ICU contd.

Total pandemic: 174,378,140,110 $AUD
2022: 126,472,911,278 $AUD
Since you are PM: 20,617,856,741 $AUD

Cost of #LongCovid
Yet unknown but could be > 5 bn $AUD/year
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-…

...
6/

Other costs:

Lost working days due to isolation, sickness, carer days ...

Also see here (early study mid 2021 - it got far worse since then):
journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…

...
7/

What do you need to do?

Mitigation of transmission:
- Support improvement of ventilation programs (e.g. as in Victoria)
- Indoor mask mandate (the lifting of mask mandate for airports feels surreal) with free adequate masks (respirators)

...
8/

Vaccination improvements:
- Definition of fully vaccinated to become dynamic - based on the recommended booster/3rd/4th regime
- Lower age threshold for 4th
- Speed up of 3rd eligibility for year 5-11

...
9/

Vaccination improvements contd.:
- Speed up vaccination availability for 6 mth - 4 years
- Push uptake of 3rd/4th with ads and incentives

Implement "Test-to-Treat"
- free RATs
- easy available anti-virals (e.g. Paxlovid) and sufficient stock of them

...
10/

Isolation requirements:
- Cases and close contacts need to isolate
- minimum 7 days
- RAT clearance for 2 days before end of isolation

...
11/

We can not continue of the current trajectory of 18,000 deaths for 2022!

Show leadership regarding COVID!

PS: Anyone who likes to add what I have missed - please feel free.